Monday, August 6, 2007

It's good to be home

I'd really like the beach a lot more if it weren't so hot and humid. I went to Corpus Christi this past weekend on a Girl Scout trip with my daughter and her friends. We spent two days at the beach and one of those nights we slept on board the USS Lexington. The accommodations on board the ship were more comfortable that I expected, that is if you don't mind sleeping in steel bunks the size of coffins. Which I didn't mind, because the mattress was very comfortable. Later, I found out that a casket company was responsible for making those comfy mattresses. Had I know that earlier, it would have been a little creepy. We did get at taste of what it was like living on an aircraft carrier, and while we were there, the ship was closed to the general public. We were taken on a guided tour as well as given the opportunity to explore the whole ship. Before lights out, the crew gathered the "live aboards" together and told us the Lexington ghost stories. As you can imagine, none of the girls could go to sleep after that.

For many years before it was decommissioned, the USS Lexington was used for training purposes. Young pilots from all over, would come to the Lexington to learn how to take off and land on a moving aircraft carrier. One of the stories that stuck with me, was the story of a young pilot who had come on board for training purposes. On her second day, she went up to the flight deck, and at the same time a jet was landing. The jet lost control, flipped over and landed on her. It's a tragic story and one that reminds me of the verse:

"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for alittle while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. " James 4:14,15 (NIV)

We should make the most of each day that the Lord gives us, we don't know what will happen tomorrow, but we should not be afraid of tomorrow, what ever tomorrow brings.

"For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11